Red Alert Gambit — Devinoni Reframes the Crisis
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Bhavani struggles to choose between the Federation and Chrysalian offers, highlighting the high stakes of the negotiation.
A Red Alert interrupts the negotiation, forcing Riker to abruptly leave for the bridge as the crisis escalates.
Devinoni seizes the moment to manipulate Bhavani, framing the conflict as a Federation-Ferengi power struggle to sway her decision.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Conflicted and attentive — the alert forces her to re-evaluate offers under duress while protecting her people's interests.
Bhavani is caught mid-decision: she pauses as the alarm breaks in, exchanges a concerned glance with Devinoni, and registers the new tactical input while her deliberative posture shifts toward weighing security implications.
- • Find a decisive factor to choose between offers that best secure Barzan's future.
- • Avoid making a rushed decision based on panic or partisan framing.
- • The wormhole is Barzan's lifeline and must not be traded away casually.
- • External shows of force (like a missile strike) should not be allowed to dictate sovereign choices.
Composed and calculating — outwardly sympathetic but inwardly exploiting fear to advance his narrative.
Devinoni immediately seizes the rhetorical opening created by the alarm: he reframes the missile strike as proof the wormhole is a pawn in a Federation–Ferengi battle, addressing Bhavani with opportunistic persuasion to tilt her judgment amid the chaos.
- • Recast the incident to align Bhavani with his preferred outcome.
- • Use the alarm-driven confusion to solidify emotional leverage over the Premier.
- • Emotional framing in moments of crisis can override measured policy analysis.
- • Creating a binary conflict (Federation vs. Ferengi) simplifies and polarizes decision-making in his favor.
Hostile and opportunistic (inferred) — willing to use kinetic means to gain advantage or provoke reaction.
Goss is referenced as the actor who escalated matters by firing a missile at the wormhole; his aggression is the causal trigger for shipboard alert and the political panic Devinoni exploits.
- • Gain commercial/political leverage over access to the wormhole through force or intimidation.
- • Disrupt rival bids and force a favorable outcome through demonstration of Ferengi willingness to act.
- • Direct action and show of force can yield negotiation advantage.
- • Risking confrontation is an acceptable cost for securing profit or position.
Alert and businesslike — focused on command obligations, slightly strained by being drawn out of delicate negotiations.
Riker reacts immediately to the Red Alert: he taps his insignia, queries Picard, receives orders, and briskly leaves the lounge for the bridge, converting diplomatic theater into operational response.
- • Comply with Captain Picard's order and report to the bridge without delay.
- • Remove himself from the negotiation to ensure the Enterprise can respond to the tactical threat.
- • Starfleet protocol and chain of command must take precedence in an active threat.
- • Immediate, competent bridge response can mitigate the physical risk to the wormhole and ships.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Ferengi missile vessel (and by extension the missile it fired) is cited as the tangible catalyst for the Red Alert. Its aggression creates the operational emergency and supplies the political narrative Devinoni weaponizes; the vessel's action converts diplomatic negotiation into crisis management.
A crew insignia is keyed to open a short-range communication: Riker taps his badge to summon Picard's voice, transforming private conversation into immediate command relay. The insignia functions as the tactile trigger that punctuates calm and propels operational movement.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Main Bridge is the operational destination and implied origin of Picard's com — its authority is projected into the lounge by the Red Alert and summons. The bridge's command presence interrupts diplomacy by asserting tactical priorities and ordering personnel movement.
The Barzan Wormhole is the strategic object under discussion and the target of the Ferengi missile; it functions as the contested prize whose physical endangerment transforms negotiation into military-adjacent crisis.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Bhavani's introduction of the wormhole's significance leads to her later struggle in negotiations."
"Bhavani's introduction of the wormhole's significance leads to her later struggle in negotiations."
Key Dialogue
"RIKER: Riker to Picard. What's happening, Captain?"
"PICARD'S COM VOICE: Goss has fired a missile at the wormhole... I need you on the bridge, Number One..."
"DEVINONI: Excuse me for saying so under the circumstances, Premier... But this fight is really between the Federation and the Ferengi... it is unconscionable that your wormhole is being used as a pawn in their power struggle."